Thursday, December 30, 2010

Success Story from Member "Mike"

From Mike:

(The short version of the story is in black text in case you are in a hurry).

I was recently stopped by the police on the M62 near Wakefield / Dewsbury and given a ticket for speeding.

They were using a pro laser 3 device and alleged I was speeding in excess of +95 MPH.

I am employed as a self-employed driver, delivering new and used motor vehicles across the UK.

On 19th January, this year, I collected a Saxo VTR at 10:45pm, from our base in Barnlsey, with a view to delivering it to a destination in Inverness.

Shortly after picking up the vehicle, I fuelled it up at a local Shell petrol station, at precisely, 11:02pm, putting in 45 pounds worth of diesel, before setting off northwards en route to Inverness.

Before fuelling up, I reset my sat - nav to my destination, and was able to roughly calculate how much fuel I might need for the journey. It was a Garmin device which also has the capability to calculate the maximum speed which I would travel after I set off from the fuel station, including any time I was stood still, or stopped in traffic.

Once I joined the M1 motorway, northbound, I had travelled about 14.1 miles when the police stopped me and accused me of speeding, saying that they had taken a reading on their pro - laser 3 device, and recorded that I was doing +95 MPH.

I told them that they must have made a mistake because I had been adhering to the speed limit and that I had only been doing about 70MPH, and that they must have got the reading off another vehicle coming down the hill.

They told me there was no other vehicle coming down the hill, and that the vehicle I was driving was the only vehicle on the motorway, which I pointed out to them, was not true...

I was cautioned...

I was asked if I was responding to an emergency?

I was asked if the speedo was accurate in the vehicle I was driving?

I was then given a fixed penalty notice, but I refused to sign it, because the details recorded upon it, in my opinion were not accurate, and did not relate to me...

Upon leaving the police vehicle, I asked the police to come to my vehicle and look at the reading on my sat - nav, which showed that I had been travelling at a maximum speed of 70.4 MPH, but they refused to do so...

Upon returning to my car, I took four photographs using a camera which I carry, of the aforementioned readings on my sat-nav.

A few weeks later, I was summoned to appear at Wakefield Magistrates court, and to enter a plea as to whether or not, I intended to plead guilty, or not guilty?

I elected trial...

A pre-trial hearing was fixed in front of the District Judge, at which point I produced the fuel receipt, pointing out to the court that I had left the fuel station shortly after 11:02pm, and that I had been stopped 38 minutes later at 11:40pm, by the police, and that I could not have been doing the sort of speed the police were alleging otherwise I would have arrived at the place where the police stopped me, sooner than I did.

I introduced the four pictures of my Sat - Nav device, which I took at the scene, and informed the court that I intended to rely upon them, the time I fuelled up at 11:02pm, the distance I travelled (14:1 miles), over a 38 minute period before the police stopped me, and the reading taken from my sat - nav device at the time I was stopped by the police.

In addition, I told the court that the police must have taken the reading from another vehicle on the hill...

The District judge pointed out to the prosecutor, that this seemed to be a case of Home office approved device, against a public device, and the readings produced by both.

The case proceeded to trial weeks later...

Prior to the commencement of the trial, held at Wakefield Magistrates court, I was given access to in-car video footage taken by the police at the time of the incident.

The patrol car had been parked at a right angle to the motorway at the time of the alleged incident, and showed them moving off before the vehicle I was driving passed their position...

Furthermore, some 7 seconds before the vehicle I was driving passed their position, another car sped past them and was out of sight, once they joined the motorway behind me.
I was prevented from asking any questions about the Pro laser 3 device, because I was not an expert...

But, I was eventually allowed to suggest that the device may have been misused by its operator...

Both police officers denied there was any other vehicle on the hill at the time they took the reading which they attributed to me...

However, video footage taken by the police from inside their patrol car showed this other vehicle had passed their position some 7 seconds before I did, and that the patrol car was moving off before I passed their position on the hard shoulder, and that this other vehicle was out of sight by the time the police were able to pull out onto the motorway...

Video footage taken by the police confirmed this to be true...

Prosecution accepted I had taken the four pictures at the time I was returning to my vehicle after the police stopped me, which showed a reading on my sat - nav that I had been doing a maximum speed of 70:4 MPH during the journey I had taken from the Shell filling station earlier that evening...

Prosecution objected to the reading taken from my sat - nav, because they said I was not an expert, but the court allowed it, saying that members of the public used these devices all of the time, and that the GPS system was accurate enough for a court to accept it as evidence in court proceedings...

Court eventually found me not guilty, stating that police must have got the reading from another vehicle on the hill.

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Thanks a lot for the story Mike. It just goes to show that even faced with the Police being ...uhem... ‘mistaken’ you still have a good chance of defending yourself if your case is presented properly.

Adam